Permanence

by Karl Schroeder

Publisher:

Tor

Copyright:

May 2002

Printing:

March 2003

ISBN:

0-765-34285-5

Format:

Mass market

Pages:

471

Science fiction of the ramscoop variety, this book mixes a bit of a coming
of age story with some truly excellent exploration fiction, a fair bit of
interstellar politics, and a very interesting take on how some aspects of
the Shinto religion may be applied to alien worlds and cybernetic
implants. An abused space station minder runs away from home and happens
on the find of her life in deep space: an abandoned alien fleet. A
research assistant and secret practitioner of NeoShinto tries to come to
terms with the alienness of the galaxy. It is a very solid
character-driven science fiction story, dense with both ideas and fully
realized characters.

There are several bits of exploration in here that reminded me of
Rendezvous with Rama, although with more
revealed about what is going on and not quite as extensive. The alien
feeling was well-done, as is the universe background of ancient extinct
alien races and failed galactic empires. All the classic trappings of
far-future space science fiction are here and handled well, including a
sense of scope and a presence of significant large questions about the
purpose and long-term future of the human race.

But the best part of this book to me was how it wove philosophy and
religion into the midst of the plot and into the consequences of the
exploration of ailen artifacts. A modified version of Shinto tries to
find ways for humans to become psychologically accustomed and comfortable
with very non-human places. The economically oppressive central
government is that way for specific and believable reasons dealing with
fears and worries about the future of the human race. Mankind searches
for peers among the stars and finds aliens, incomprehension, danger, and
questions. And against that backdrop is the story of one young woman
trying to understand what she can do in the world, what she wants to do,
who she can trust, and what she believes in.

I really loved this book. It's an excellent execution of some standard
science fiction backgrounds with interesting twists of its own, and it's
packed full of both ideas and likeable and believable characters. The
main character, abused as a child, acts like she was, and not in ways that
always end up being right or smart. I really cared about the characters,
and continued to care about them all the way through the book, which is
perhaps one of the highest compliments one can pay a book.

Other than an ending that's just a little bit too neat and a tiny bit of
an anti-climax, I can't think of any real flaws in this book. I recommend
it very highly.